Gaylord-area runners survive 'Marathon madness'

CHICAGO — When temperatures were already into the mid-70s early Sunday morning for the beginning of the Chicago Marathon, Gaylord’s Dana Hall knew it would be a difficult day for a long run.

After battling through sweltering conditions and seeing fellow racers fall out and be treated left and right, Hall and the field of 45,000 found out how difficult.

Despite conditions that saw temperatures soar into the high 80s and low 90s with little or no wind and a lot of humidity, Hall and three other Gaylord runners crossed the finish line.

“The Windy City certainly wasn’t windy on that day,” Hall said. “We knew it would be warm and we were preparing for it. You knew it was hot when everybody was sweating in the first mile.”

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Hall, 44, and her training partner, Carol Scott, 46, made it through, as did Gaylord’s Frank Laurence, 43, and Sarah Freeman, 40.

Not as lucky was 35-year-old Midland police officer Chad Schieber, who collapsed and was later pronounced dead. It was later reported Schieber’s death was not due to heat exhaustion, but rather to a heart condition. Still, more than 250 athletes were hospitalized because of the heat, according to Free Press accounts.

“It was a little shocking. People were collapsing everywhere,” said Freeman, who completed her first marathon.

Race organizers stopped the race at the 22-mile mark, but Laurence, Hall, Scott and Freeman were able to complete it as competitors were allowed to walk the remainder of the course.

Freeman said things were going great early on. She found a pair of young nurses from Florida to run with and they were holding strong until about the 14-mile mark. From there, the trio could not get water for a couple of miles and were forced to walk. All the water had been used so they actually rehydrated from a gracious restaurant owner who gave them water from his own kitchen.

“The organizers are saying they didn’t run out of water but there wasn’t enough liquid for us,” she said. “We didn’t know how bad it was until they told us the race was cancelled.”

Hall and Scott, who ran together, also felt the lack of hydration, but said they were fortunate for local residents who showered residents with hoses and gave them ice. At one point, Scott thought about stopping, but Hall encouraged her to keep going.

“A young kid gave me some ice that I put into my hat and I was good to go,” Scott said. “But if I had to do it all over again, I would have woken up and just pulled out. The humidity was just killing everybody.”

Scott, who completed her fourth marathon, and Hall, completing her second, were disappointed they couldn’t run the whole way because they were going for a personal best. Still, they said it was a memorable experience and were able to run the final quarter mile to the finish line.

“Part of running marathons is to be flexible with weather changes and to adapt to them,” Hall said. “I don’t think it was a bad experience — just an experience we had to go through and learn about running through extreme heat conditions.”

After the race, Hall and Scott boarded a taxi cab whose driver had just gotten finished taking Schieber’s wife to the hospital.

All the racers said the experience did not deter them and they likely will run marathons again.

“We’ll definitely do it again,” Hall said. “Maybe not that one, but we’ll run one somewhere.”